of
I remember the first time I read the works of John Steinbeck. Of
Mice and Men was not actually the first novel of his I read, but
as a short introduction to the world of the US recession it has no
equal. The very first introduction to Steinbeck was actually a
description by our next-door neighbour, an artist and teacher called
Graham Bowsher, when I was quite young of a turtle crossing a road;
many years later I realised that he was attempting to explain some of
the fascination of The Grapes of Wrath. I was reminded
forcibly of this when, in the mid 1970s, I was in a bar in central
Utah, and a trucker came in and asked "What kinda pie you got?" I had
a strong feeling that Proust would have been proud of that moment. It
was only with difficulty I restrained myself from shouting that I knew
that script.
jpff@cs.bath.ac.uk
Last modified: Wed Sep 5 08:51:02 BST 2001